Specify information for an assembly by placing information for each assembly inside a <dependentAssembly> element. The <assemblyIdentity> element contains information that identifies an assembly. You can have more than one <dependentAssembly> element in the configuration file, but there must be exactly one <assemblyIdentity> element in each <dependentAssembly> element.

To bind an assembly, you must specify the string "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" with the xmlns attribute in the <assemblyBinding> tag.

To make the runtime bypass the publisher policy for a particular assembly, put the <publisherPolicy> element in the <dependentAssembly> element. To make the runtime bypass publisher policy for all assemblies that the application uses, put this setting in the <assemblyBinding> element. You can also use the .NET Framework Configuration tool (Mscorcfg.msc) to bypass publisher policy.

The default setting for the apply attribute is yes. Setting the apply attribute to no overrides any previous yes settings. For example, if apply is set to no at the application level, any assembly-specific apply setting is ignored, even if it declares the value to be yes. Thus, the no setting is the only useful state, as this changes the default.

To redirect one version to another, use the <bindingRedirect> element. The oldVersion attribute can specify either a single version, or a range of versions. For example, <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.1.0.0-1.2.0.0" newVersion="2.0.0.0"/> specifies that the runtime should use version 2.0.0.0 instead of the assembly versions between 1.1.0.0 and 1.2.0.0.

The following example shows how to redirect one version of myAssembly to another, and turn off publisher policy for mySecondAssembly.

<configuration>
  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="myAssembly"
          publicKeyToken="32ab4ba45e0a69a1"
          culture="en-us" />
        <!-- Assembly versions can be redirected in application, 
          publisher policy, or machine configuration files. -->
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0" newVersion="2.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
      <assemblyIdentity name="mySecondAssembly"
        publicKeyToken="32ab4ba45e0a69a1"
        culture="en-us" />
        <!-- Publisher policy can be set only in the application 
          configuration file. -->
        <publisherPolicy apply="no" />
      </dependentAssembly>
    </assemblyBinding>
  </runtime>
</configuration>

You can use the appliesTo attribute on the <assemblyBinding> element in an application configuration file to redirect assembly binding references to a specific version of the .NET Framework. This optional attribute uses a .NET Framework version number to indicate what version it applies to. If no appliesTo attribute is specified, the <assemblyBinding> element applies to all versions of the .NET Framework.

The appliesTo attribute was introduced in .NET Framework version 1.1; it is ignored by the .NET Framework version 1.0. This means that all <assemblyBinding> elements are applied when using the .NET Framework version 1.0, even if an appliesTo attribute is specified.

For example, to redirect assembly binding for the .NET Framework version 1.0 assembly Regcode, you would include the following XML code in your application configuration file.

<runtime>
  <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" 
    appliesTo="v1.0.3705">
    <dependentAssembly> 
      <!-- assembly information goes here -->
    </dependentAssembly>
  </assemblyBinding>
</runtime>

The <assemblyBinding> elements are order-sensitive. You should enter assembly binding redirection information for any .NET Framework version 1.0 assemblies first, followed by assembly binding redirection information for any .NET Framework version 1.1 assemblies. Finally, enter assembly binding redirection information for any .NET Framework assembly redirection that does not use the appliesTo attribute and therefore applies to all versions of the .NET Framework. In case of a conflict in redirection, the first matching redirection statement in the configuration file is used.

For example, to redirect one reference to a .NET Framework version 1.0 assembly and another reference to a .NET Framework version 1.1 assembly, you would use the pattern shown in the following pseudocode.

<assemblyBinding xmlns="..." appliesTo="v1.0.3705"> 
  <!—.NET Framework version 1.0 redirects here --> 
</assemblyBinding> 

<assemblyBinding xmlns="..." appliesTo="v1.1.5000"> 
  <!—.NET Framework version 1.1 redirects here --> 
</assemblyBinding> 

<assemblyBinding xmlns="..."> 
  <!-- redirects meant for all versions of the runtime --> 
</assemblyBinding>